Fioretta – Sophia – Angela

Use this forum to discuss the June 2018 Book of the Month"The Girl Who Knew da Vinci" by Belle Ami
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courage7
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Re: Fioretta – Sophia – Angela

Post by courage7 »

I would say that the women were emotionally strong even if one of them did face sexual harassment from Alex at work place.standing up for yourself is something you will have to do in live.
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Post by bookowlie »

I agree that Sophia was the strongest, although I did like the way Fioretta gave her lover's mother a series of demands regarding the baby. Considering the power of the Medici family, that took guts! Of course, when you have just given birth and are dying, it's probably easier to be assertive. :)
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Post by greenstripedgiraffe »

Nena_Morena wrote: 20 Jun 2018, 20:26 Although I loved Fioretta I wouldn't define her "strong". I would rather attribute that word to Sophia, who didn't just challenge her family in being with a German soldier during WWII, but she also raised their child and continued the family's business alone after so many losses in her life.
I agree with your assessment of Sophia. As for the others, I don't really feel that defining strong women was the point of the novel, so there's that.
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Post by kfwilson6 »

Very good points. Single motherhood may be common in this decade but in the 40s and 50s I'm sure widows were expected to remarry and provide a father for their children. To greenstripedgiraffe's point, Ami may not have intended for any of her female characters to be seen as strong. Although I think she did provide some contradictory traits about Angela. I guess when she goes kissing a stranger in hazy dazy faze we shouldn't have expected too much from her.
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Post by bookowlie »

greenstripedgiraffe wrote: 28 Jun 2018, 06:25
Nena_Morena wrote: 20 Jun 2018, 20:26 Although I loved Fioretta I wouldn't define her "strong". I would rather attribute that word to Sophia, who didn't just challenge her family in being with a German soldier during WWII, but she also raised their child and continued the family's business alone after so many losses in her life.
I agree with your assessment of Sophia. As for the others, I don't really feel that defining strong women was the point of the novel, so there's that.
I agree that the women's traits were not a focus in the book. Instead, it was all about the missing painting and the past-life regressions pointing the way to finding it. In general, mysteries don't have a big focus on character traits since the mystery plot is usually the driving force instead of deep character development.
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Post by CinWin »

I believe all three of them are strong women who live their lives outside of the "norm". Their relationships with the men in their lives are all very equal orientated. I believe it is very important to the "time-travel" aspect of the book to have all three women be built of the same "stuff".
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Post by kfwilson6 »

Very true
If Sophia and Fioretta are past versions of Angela it would make sense that they would be pretty similar. It would be strange if Ami wrote them to be vastly different.
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Post by bookowlie »

CinWin wrote: 29 Jun 2018, 14:25 I believe all three of them are strong women who live their lives outside of the "norm". Their relationships with the men in their lives are all very equal orientated. I believe it is very important to the "time-travel" aspect of the book to have all three women be built of the same "stuff".
While I agree the two women from the past lived outside the norm for their time period, Angela seemed like a traditional young woman starting out in her career. I didn't find her to be similar to Sophia or Fioretta. Angela seemed more like she needed a man (Alex) to protect and guide her.
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Post by bookowlie »

kfwilson6 wrote: 29 Jun 2018, 14:29 Very true
If Sophia and Fioretta are past versions of Angela it would make sense that they would be pretty similar. It would be strange if Ami wrote them to be vastly different.
I'm not sure if it would matter if someone in a past life was a different type of personality. The way I look at it, the paranormal aspects of the story were pure fantasy. Angela's past life could have just as well been Joan of Arc, Queen Victoria, or a timid housewife in New Zealand. :)
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Post by kfwilson6 »

Guess it depends on your take on the nurture versus nature debate. Although I don't really get the whole past-life thing, so maybe that doesn't apply. I guess it's not like being someone's descendant where similar traits would be anticipated. But if she is going to fall head over heels with Alex in less than a week because of the love she had for two men in two previous lives, I would expect a lot of similarities.
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Post by Thimble »

I don't like the idea of a "strong" female character because that's very subjective. I think Fioretta and Sophia were better written and more independent than Angela. If Alex were less of a white knight Angela could have had more room to show her independence, but I don't know much about her since we only learn about her feelings and nothing about her capabilities as an individual.
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Post by [Valerie Allen] »

I call them different yet equal as their relationships with the men seem similar.
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Post by Vickie Noel »

Dael Reader wrote: 08 Jun 2018, 14:52 I don't think we get enough information any of the women's characters to define them as "strong" women. As some have mentioned, Fioretta and Sophia seem willing to defy traditional stereotypes, but that could be described as nonconformist or rebellious, not necessarily strong.

If Fioretta was a strong woman, she might have insisted on a public marriage, not one that had to be kept secret until she gave birth. (Presumably because she had more value as the mother of a child from a prominent family but not as just a wife?)

And what exactly was Sophia waiting for? She and Max were planning on a private ceremony, so they could have done that at any time. Why didn't she drag that man to the altar sooner? Although, we are left to believe she raised a child on her own. That could be a sign of strength.

Angela refuses to have sex with the boss she is not attracted to. But she is eager to have sex with Alex, the boss she IS attracted to. And even though Angela resists Scordato's advances and walks away from the supposed "job of a lifetime," she lets Alex report the incident, and she is happy to run away from the problem--with Alex. That seems a little more like a damsel in distress than an independently strong woman. A stronger woman might have fought to keep the job of a lifetime.

I also wouldn't necessarily say that "taking control of their sexuality" defines them as "strong." There are rebellious teenagers who "take control of their sexuality" as a symptom of their own lack of self-confidence. Sex is their primary form of expression, but not a primary expression of strength. The seemingly insatiable sexual desires these women are expressing could be signs of insecurity, not necessarily strength. Unfortunately, we just don't get to see enough of the other aspects of their personalities to know for sure.
I completely agree! Being strong implies both going against the norm AND changing the standard through your course of action, be it temporal or permanent. None of these women were able to stimulate such change and reconsiderations, so they were simply daredevils and non-conformists.
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Post by Britty01 »

I felt Fioretta Gorini was strong, knowing the risks she was taking by being involved with Giuliano de Medici. She was strong-willed enough to hold on to life long enough, after a difficult childbirth, to persuade Lucrezia (her mother in law) to raise Giulio as a Medici. The marriage was not recognized due to family connections. To be honest, I think any woman who gave birth or tried to in those times had to be strong.

I liked their story so much, I researched and found they did exist in real life and their son did become Pope Clement VII. Fioretta and Giuliano's marriage was finally recognized.
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Post by Rosemary Khathibe »

Fioretta was brave enough to stand by her choice, no matter people's opinion of it. As for Angela hiding under Alex's limbs most of the time, I can't consider her strong.
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